Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER LIV. PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN. If it be true that a man can put no more into his work than there is in himself, it is also undeniable that his work--if it be a picture--will betray the real character of its author; who, in the unconscious development of his peculiarities, constantly presents to the initiated signs by which an infallible judgment may be pronounced on the painter's mind and character. If an artist have a vulgar mind, his work will be vulgar; if he be of a shifty and untruthful nature, his picture will faithfully reflect these faults. We know Vandyke must have been a refined and courtly gentleman, as surely as we are convinced that Jan Stein was the jovial, often drunken, companion of the guests at kermess or ale-house. Though I speak under correction as regards authors and books, I have often proved, to my own satisfaction, that it is as difficult for a writer to hide his real character when he employs the pen, as it is for the artist to be false to himself when he uses the brush. It would, however, require an intimate acquaintance with some celebrated persons--writers and others--to discover qualities in them which their published performances imperfectly display. Among " men I have known," the late Shirley Brooks was a notable example of a man whose conversation and private correspondence were so sparkling and delightful as to throw his novels, admirable as they are, completely into the shade. As an example, I introduce in this place a letter written by Brooks in the name of Miss Baynes, the landlady of the Granby Hotel at Harrogatc. It is needless to say that the paragraph alluded to was fictitious. The " early pictures" were some of my first efforts, presented to Miss Baynes many years ago, and they now hang on the...